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HOUSEKEEPING FOR 
LITTLE GIRLS 



UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



COOKERY FOR LITTEE GIRLS 



SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



WORK AND PLAY FOR 
LITTLE GIRLS 



Illiisl ralrd. 7.) cents net 




THE TEA TABLE. 



HOUSEKEEPING 
FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



BY 

OLIVE HYDE FOSTER 

. r 

Author or 
" Cooker V for Little Girj.s" 
" Sewing for Littee Gires " 




NEW YORK 

DUFFIELD Si COMPANY 

1912 






Copyright, 1909, 1910, by 
PICTORIAL REVIEW 

Copyright, 1912, by 
DUFFIELD & COMPANY 



£CI.A328007 



Preface 

The kindly welcome accorded my books for 
little girls on cooking and sewing, has led natu- 
rally to this volume for them on the next step in 
woman's Avork,— housekeeping. Though little has 
been written for children along these practical 
lines, librarians say that the few works obtain- 
able are in great demand. 

The study of Domestic Science is growing 
steadily in popular favour, because knowledge of 
its principles tends directly to increase interest in 
the family as well as eventually to improve the 
race. As in the home centre the life and happi- 
ness of the whole family, it is of the utmost im- 
portance that every girl should realize the dignity 
and pleasure of caring for a home. In it she will 
have the opportunity to make use of the best edu- 
cation she has been able to get in literature, music, 
science, morals and art ; and with these uplifting 
influences her housekeeping will become — instead 
of heart-breaking drudgery — a work of fasci- 
nating delight. 

With a knowledge of Domestic Science she can 

Y 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

add to the comfort and welfare of all the members 
of her household. She will be able to spend her 
money to better advantage, and to improve the 
health of those about her by maintaining hygienic 
surroundings and providing scientifically cooked 
meals. And as a well-kept home implies a family, 
in the course of her development as a model house- 
wife, she will probably come to realize a growing 
fondness for little ones, and a willingness to un- 
dertake the mental, moral and physical training 
of children. 

All little girls love to " play house," and it is 
very easy to get them so interested in doing things 
really worth while that they will take genuine 
pleasure in becoming good housekeepers. 

O. H. F. 



DEDICATED TO 

Two of the most helpful little girls that ever learned 
to keep house. 



CONTENTS 



PART I 

CHAl'TDIl 

I A Well-Kept Home 

II The General Cake or the House 

HI Care of the Dining-Room . 

IV A Dainty Livin(;-Room 

V An Attractive Upstairs . 

VI Law and Order in the Kitchen 

VII Holiday Preparations 



PAGE 

3 
8 
18 
28 
36 
l.() 
55 



PART II 

I Curious Fac ts Akout Things We Eat 
II The Prin( iples ov Cookery . 
Ill The Question of Food Values 
IV Planning Economical Meals 
V The Chemistry of Cleanincj 
VI Why and How to Fuiirr l)u 

Flies 

VII Hints on Furnishings and Decora- 
tions ♦ ♦ • • .110 



ST AND 



65 
73 
83 
89 
9G 

102 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PART I 
The Tea Table Frontispiece 

PAGE 

A Business Basis 4 

Preparing to Clean 11 

Dusting 1 i 

The "Best Things" .19 

Tea 25 

Polishing Furniture 31 

The Sleeping Room 37 

Care of the Beds 40 

A Fresh, Clean Kitchen 47 

Cleaning the Stove 49 

PART II 

Preparations 69 

Carpentry 100 

Getting Rid of Dust 107 

Beauty and Use . . . Ill 

Dish-washing .. . . • . ♦ • • .114 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 
PART I 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR 
LITTLE GIRLS 

CHAPTER I 

A Well-kept Home 

There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: 
If the ill spirit have so fair a house, 
Good things will strive to dwell with 't. 

Shakespeare. 

Do you know, Girls, what that big name. Do- 
mestic Science, stands for? Why, something 
you really want to know ! I am sure of it. And 
when young women go to college, and spend a lot 
of money to study it they find when they get 
through that they have learned — what do you 
suppose? — the best, easiest and most scientific way 
to cook, keep house, and take care of the family. 

Even many little poor children in our big cities 
are now being taught all these wonderful things, 
and I saw a lot of them one day, with neat caps 
and aprons, working with a pleasant-looking 
teacher in a model kitchen. They were learning 

3 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

to cook, and finding the best way to make de- 
licious bread and rolls, how to prepare all sorts 
of good things to eat, and to keep everything 




A BUSINESS BASIS. 



delightfully clean. They had their little note- 
books, so they would not forget or make a mis- 
take, and they looked, oh ! so happy. 

This is what every girl ought to know, too, for 
of course all of you expect when you grow up to 
have a nice home of your own, and wouldn't it be 
simply dreadful if you did not know how to take 
care of it properly ! Well, you can begin to learn 
right now, for Mother will be glad to have your 
help, and I am going to tell you a lot of things 
that you will have fun in proving for yourself. 



SAVING MONEY 



You would not think of throwing away a quar- 
ter, would you? I see you open your eyes in 
astonishment. But if you do not " run the 
house " on what is called a business basis, you will 
throw away (waste) a good many quarters! 

4 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTT.E GIRLS 

Every girl should take a pride in learning how 
to get the most for her money, and saving all she 
can. In the first place, she should know exactly 
how nmch she has to spend, then just exactly 
what she needs to buy. Here will come in the 
fun of seeing how far she can make the money 
go. One girl I knew was told by her father that 
he would give her a certain amount each week to 
set the family table, and that she might have all 
that was left over for herself, to pay for tluis 
relieving her mother. I tell you she learned very 
quickly where to get the best things to eat for 
the least money, and she had a nice sum left for 
her own clothes. 

Before you buy anything, be sure that you are 
not paying more than it is worth, — and that you 
can afford to buy it at all. A good way to learn 
this is to get a little account book, write down 
all the money you get in one column, and every 
penny you spend in another, and then see that 
the two come out even. 

This " keeping accounts " is one of the things 
that college girls learn in connection with what is 
called " Household Management " ; and another, 
equally important, is planning the work so that 
the housewife will not be worn out in keeping the 
house clean and attractive. 

5 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



THE KEASON AVHY. 

The most interesting part of the study, prob- 
ably, is learning about the things Ave eat and how 
to cook them. Did you ever wonder why people 
usually have meat, vegetables and dessert for 
dinner? Well, there is a very good reason, and 
when we get to it, I'll tell you. We will talk 
about " food values," and the best ways of cook- 
ing the things that really belong together, in 
order to properly nourish our bodies as well as 
please our appetites. We might get just as much 
actual nourishment from sour, dry bread as from 
a sweet, fresh loaf, but who would want to eat it? 

You will very soon find out that it is best to 
learn the right and scientific way to do things. It 
saves a lot of time, too. There are many short 
cuts and new methods, all making the work easier 
and more interesting. Of course it takes prac- 
tice to do things well, but you will soon learn to 
" make your head save your heels." Not any 
single branch of the work is very hard, and while 
no one would expect you to try to do it all alone, 
I want you to take up each part as we come to it, 
and try it for a while, so that you will have a good 
chance to learn it thoroughly. 

Your help will mean a great deal to JNIothcr if 

6 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

she happens to be ill or called away from home ; 
and although I know you have always loved to 
" play house," suppose you go about it now in 
earnest to become good little housekeepers. 



CHAPTER II 

The General Care of the House 

Be it ever so humble, there's no phice like home. 

J. Howard Payne. 

In the very first place, always he neat and 
clean yourself. Does that seem difficult when you 
are washing dishes or huilding a fire? Why, you 
will hardly believe it when I tell you that in the 
big cities even the street-sweepers wear suits and 
helmets of white. It is sensible too, for not only 
do they look nice, but their clothes show when they 
are soiled, and can be immediately cleaned. If 
you have any half-worn wash dresses that are not 
quite nice enough to wear in the street, take them 
for house-dresses and when they get dirty have 
them washed. Old dresses too far gone for that, 
however, can be cut up for aprons — and I want 
you to be sure to always wear an apron. 

Your mother has probably been very systematic 
about her work, as most women are. Generally 
the washing is done on jNIonday^ the ironing on 
Tuesday and Wednesday, the extra work such as 

8 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

cleaning silver, curtains and windows on Thurs- 
day, thorough sweeping and dusting on Friday, 
and baking, with the kitchen cleaning, on Satur- 
day, though everyone varies this to suit her own 
convenience. It is well for you, however, to notice 
the way your mother does, and learn the reason 
she has for her method. 

PREPARING TO CLEAN. 

This time I am going to tell you a few things 
about the general care of the house. It has to be 
kept fresh and clean, so naturally we think imme- 
diately of sweeping and dusting. If you have 
carpets in your house there is likely to be more 
dust than if you have polished floors and rugs. 
(I will talk to you about cleaning them another 
time.) When you are ready to sweep a room, 
after putting on an apron and fitting a dusting 
cap well down over your hair, wipe off the chairs 
with a soft cloth and move them into another 
apartment. Remove the books and papers from 
the table, dusting and piling them on one of the 
clean chairs, or else rearrange them on the table 
and then cover with an old sheet. 

If the curtains are on light rods, get someone 
to help you lift them down once in two weeks and 
shake them gently outside. Any small rugs 

9 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

should be taken out, too, and swept on both sides 
on the grass. But do not hang them on a hne, 
as it is very apt to injure them through the 
centre. 

REMOVING ASHES. 

If a grate or stove happens to be in use there 
will be the ashes to remove, but any of my neat 
little girls can do this with care so as not to make 
the fine dust fly. But first you'd better spread 
around some old papers, then bring the coal- 
bucket close up to the ash-box. Slipping a small 
shovel into the pile of ashes, take out a small 
quantity, lift carefully over to the bucket and let 
the ashes gently slide down. If you repeat this 
with great care each time, and, too, hold a piece 
of newspaper over the top of the bucket, you will 
see that the ashes do not scatter about the room. 
Then sweep toward the draft any that may have 
fallen about the edge, close up the stove, and wipe 
clean with the stove cloth. For the grate, a small 
quantity of grease or oil on the rag will make the 
metal look bright and shining. In doing this 
work, however, the very dirtiest of all housework, 
you'd better ask mother to let you have an old 
pair of gloves that you can wear to keep your 
hands nice and white. 

10 




PREPARING TO CLEAN. 
11 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



SWEEPING. 

Then, closing the doors to keep the dust from 
the rest of the house, and opening the windows for 
fresh air, proceed with a broom, that is the right 
weight for you to liandle, to sweep the carpet. If 
it has been down for some time (so that it holds 
much dust), you will find the work cleaner and 
more satisfactory if you first scatter around damp 
tea-leaves, or scraps of newspaper wrung out of 
clear water. In rolling over and over in the 
sweeping they collect the dirt, and also brighten 
the carpet. Be sure to get well into the corners 
and close to the baseboards. If a piece of furni- 
ture is too heavy for you to move, ask mother to 
let you have a small whisk broom, and sweep 
under with that. Hold your large broom nearly 
straight, do not bear down too hard, and take light 
easy strokes. Begin in the darkest corner and 
brush toward the light, so that as the dirt accumu- 
lates you can be sure of getting it all. Work it 
well up into a nice little pile, and take it up on 
the dust -pan, using your whisk if necessary to get 
this last spot perfectly clean. Never, 7iever do 
that untidy trick of brushing the dust from one 
room to another! 



13 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



DUSTING. 

Leave the doors closed uiid the windows open 
until the dust has settled, then remove the cloth 
spread over the table and shake that outside. 
Wipe off all the woodwork with a clean soft cloth 
and don't forget to shake that outside every little 
while, too. Dust everything left in the room, 
putting it in its usual place, bring back the chairs, 
spread down the rugs, and then look around to 




DUSTING. 



make sure that everything is right. Don't forget 
the rounds of the chairs and the legs of the tables. 
The picture frames, too, must be carefully wiped 
off, front and back, and any little ornaments 
hanging around that collect dust and yet are apt 
to be overlooked. 

Cheese-cloth is about the very best thing you 
can get for dusting fine furniture. In piano 
ware-rooms it is used almost exclusively for polish- 

14 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ing expensive rosewood and mahogany, and it 
never scratches. A few yards to be cut and 
hemmed for dusters will cost but ten or fifteen 
cents, yet will last for months. In the living- 
room, where you may wish to dust twice a day, 
have one of these pieces hang in some convenient 
place, in a pretty little bag made of some old scrap 
of silk. It will save a lot of trouble. 

BUILDING A FIRE. 

If you have to start a fire (and it is a good 
thing for you to know how in case of emergency), 
first clean your grate by shaking down all the 
ashes you can with the stove closed, using a small 
poker when necessary to rake them out. Then 
crumple up old papers enough to nearly half fill 
the fire-box, add a layer of fine kindling, then a 
layer of coarse, and place the coal or wood on top. 
Hard coal requires much more coarse kindling 
than soft coal does, but if the drafts in the front 
of the stove and in the chimney are all open there 
should be no trouble about getting it started. 
Only don't poke a hard-coal fire, and also don't 
start any kind and then go away, forget about it 
and let it burn out ! 



15 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



WASHING WOODWORK. 

Always watch to see that the woodwork is clean. 
When you notice a door getting black with finger- 
marks, or a casing showing a line of dust, wash it. 
A few teaspoonfuls of ammonia in a couple of 
quarts of water will cut dirt easily and not mar 
the varnish. Wash only a small space at a time, 
dry it and rub with the cheese-cloth. When it is 
clean, go over it once more with a dry polisher to 
take off any blurs. This ammonia and water will 
make furniture look surprisingly clean and new, 
but you must wet only a little bit at a time and 
then wipe it dry at once. 

CLEANING THE PORCH. 

Your porches and steps ought to be swept off 
early every morning. This takes only a few 
moments, but their appearance makes a great im- 
pression on a stranger entering the house. Once 
a week they at least ought to be washed, too, and 
if you have a hose it is more fun than anything 
else to turn on the water and make them look nice. 
If you have no hose, first sweep off all the dust 
you can, then after putting on your gloves and 
rubbers, take an old broom and a bucket of water 
and scrub it that way. Some clean water thrown 

16 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

oil afterward will rinse it off and make it dry more 
evenly, though if you prefer, you can go over it 
with a dry cloth fastened securely in a mop-stick. 
Now, I do not mean for you to start in to 
try and do all these things at once. As I said 
before, however, I hope you will learn to do each 
kind of work thoroughly before you try the next. 
Even if mother keeps a maid, tell her you are 
eager to become a good housekeeper and see if she 
can arrange with Mary or Katie to let you help 
with some part regularly. 



17 



CHAPTER III 

Care of the Dining-room 

Who sweeps a room as for Tliy laws 
Makes that and th' action fine. 

George Herbert 

You may be surprised to find how many inter- 
esting things there are to do in the dining-room. 
Here is where the whole family usually congregate 
two or three times a day, and it should be kept 
clean and orderly. I hope, to start with, that you 
have a bright, sunny room, for people, plants and 
flowers all need sunlight ; and a nice fern for the 
centre of the table, with a flowering plant or two 
at the window, will add greatly to the general 
attractiveness. 

FINE CHINA. 

It is needless to ask any of you if you like 
pretty clothes, but I wonder if you have ever 
thought much about pretty table ware.^^ Now, 
fine china is costly and easily broken, but I am 
sure if you ever felt the real pleasure that comes 

18 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

from handling some dainty teacup that a dear old 
grandma once used, you will unconsciously be care- 
ful with your mother's things. Her best pieces 
she probably keeps for special occasions, but you 
must be just as considerate of the every-day ware 
if you would become expert enough to be trusted 
with all kinds. In carrying to and from the table 




and in putting away in the china closet, be mind- 
ful about placing the large pieces at the bottom, 
and not piling them up. It is much better to 
carry a few at a time and put them down in order, 
than to run the risk of a piece slipping on a full 
tray, and damaging several others in its downfall. 
Nicked or cracked dishes are unpleasant to look 

19 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

at, and personally I would as soon have a piece 
broken outright. A fragile old cup and saucer 
that has come to me from a great-grandmother is 
doubly valued because in all its travels it has never 
been injured in the least. 

FAMILY SILVER. 

Old silver, too, is always highly prized, and, 
people will pay big prices in auction rooms and 
curiosity shops, but how much more valuable is 
that which has always been in your own family ! 
And whatever your mother may possess, take pains 
to help her keep it bright and free from blemishes. 
It means so much to a girl to have odd pieces of 
this kind, and perhaps some day, when you have 
a home of your own, you will be glad to be 
favoured with the sugar bowl or the teaspoons 
that once graced her table. Be sure to see that 
the flat silver is all counted frequently to guard 
against possible loss, and put in a suitable drawer 
or box where it can not get bent or scratched. 
Some old sterling tablespoons have just been given 
me, from the set made for my maternal grand- 
father out of the actual silver dollars he took to 
the silversmith ; and the loving care they have 
received through all these vears has silent testi- 

20 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

inony to-day in the beauty of their unmarred form 
and design. 

CUT GLASS. 

Cut glass, too, requires the greatest of care. 
Aside from all the danger that attends the han- . 
dling of fine china, it has perils of its own. Boil- 
ing fluids will almost surely crack it, owing to itsu 
thickness, so never pour a hot custard into 
mother's favourite bowl or it will be apt to go to 
pieces in your hands. And if you happen to bej. 
washing the cream pitcher or the expensiver cut 
glass tumblers, after they have held milk, always 
rinse out first in cool water. Then wash in wnrmu 
soapy water with a soft cloth, brush the cut out- 
side with a little brush kept for the purpose, rinse 
in warm water and dry innnediately. Put care- 
fully away at once. , 

TABLE LINEN. 

You will find it interesting to help mother take 
care of her table linen. The little fancy pieces 
should be kept in a drawer by themselves, and 
right here let me say that she probably will be 
highly pleased if in your spare moments you occa- 
sionally make her something new. It will be fun 

21 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR TJTTLE GIRLS 

to do the embroidery, and surely you know some- 
one that can show you liow. The tablecloths and 
napkins for best use ought to be kept apart from 
the conmion ones, and if you will take the pains 
to fold up the tablecloth each time, in the original 
creases, it will keep fresh and inviting twice as 
long as it will if you fold carelessly and toss in 
the drawer. For a small family it is nice, though, 
to use the separate linen pieces instead, at least 
for breakfast and luncheon, putting a large doily 
at each place for the plate, a smaller one for the 
cup and saucer, and a tumbler size under the glass. 
Then with odd pieces under the principal dishes 
and the cruets, and a pretty centrepiece under the 
flowers or fern, the table will be attractive indeed. 
These small pieces are easily washed and ironed, 
too, but if you have charge of the linen drawers, 
be sure that you get back all that you send to the 
laundry. 

A NEAT SIDEBOARD. 

If mother has a sideboard, try — as a part of 
the coming month's lesson — to keep that in per- 
fect order. See that the articles used on the table 
are set back in their right places, and do not allow 
any spilt salt or sugar to remain after a single 
meal. Wipe off" the oil bottle, too, or it will leave 

22 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

a grease mark on the cover; and if the glasses are 
placed on top, put them at regular intervals 
apart. A small serving-table is of great con- 
venience where there is no maid, and it can be 
drawn up near enough for mother to reach it with- 
out leaving her seat. On it can be put those extra 
things she may not care to have on the table, and 
here she can place the plates when she makes a 
change and does not want to take the time and 
trouble to remove them to the kitchen. 

SETTING THE TABLE. 

Of course every one of my girls will want to 
know the right way to set a table. First put on 
either the doilies as I have told you or the table- 
pad and cloth. The cloth nmst be always fresh 
and clean, however, and smoothed out straight. 
But if some careless little brother or sister has 
made a spot, spread a small napkin over the place 
to hide it, and make the table look nice. Next, 
put around all the flat silver needed at each place, 
at the right of the plate the knife, the soup spoon 
(bowl up) and the necessary teaspoons. The 
forks, with the tines up, go to the left of the 
plate, beginning in the order in which they are to 
be used. 

To be very proper at a dinner, put a service 

23 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

plate, as it is called, directly in the centre of each 
place, so there will always be a plate before each 
person, and on this you can lay the napkin. The 
water glass should alwa3's be placed to the right, 
at the end of the knife. If jMother pours the tea 
or coffee, put the cups and saucers, the cream 
pitcher and sugar bowl before lier place, put the 
salts and peppers where they can be conveniently 
reached by all, and the dishes that Father serves 
in front of him, in their proper places. Don't set 
the platter down crooked, but on a straight line 
with the edges of the table ; and be sure the carv- 
ing knife and fork and the tablespoons are at 
hand. Of course, every family adapts these gen- 
eral instructions to its own liking, but you want 
at all times to have the table clean, neat and 
orderly. 

SERVING. 

The proper way to wait on a table, too, it would 
be nice for you to learn now. Breakfasts and 
luncheons are usually very simple, but dinners 
require more formality. If soup is served first, 
either bring from the kitchen or take from your 
father one plate at a time, and set down before 
the members of the family in the order of their 
impoi*tance, beginning with your mother. The 

ti4> 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



custom of serving the mother before the guests is 
becoming more and more general. Remember to 
offer and to set down food at the left side always, 
and to remove from the right. Next you take out 




TEA. 



the soup plates (in the original order, Mother's 
first), and bring in the dinner. Remove each ser- 
vice plate from the right side as you set the dinner 
plate down from the left. See that everytliing 
necessary is on the table before you resume your 
seat, for I do not mean to have you stand and 
serve as a waitress would have to do, but rather as 
Mother's own little well-trained helper. Besides, 
when you grow up and have the care of a home 
3^ourself, you will know just how these things 
should be done, and will be able to train a servant 
properly if you should happen to have one. 
Every girl should be taught to do everything con- 
nected with housekeeping and home-making, for 
whether she does it herself or passes the knowl- 
edge on to others, it is a satisfaction to " know 
Jiow." 

^5 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

If a salad course follows, clear away the entire 
dinner course you brought in, and set the salad, 
with the plates, before Mother. Pass each plate 
as rapidly as she prepares it, not forgetting the 
right way to set down and remove the dishes, as 
before explained. 

READY FOR DESSERT. 

When time for the dessert, clear the table of 
everything but the necessary forks and spoons, 
cream, sugar, water, and — of course — the cen- 
trepiece. That is never touched unless it hap- 
pens to be a bowl of fruit which has to be served. 
Brush the cloth free from all crumbs with a 
folded napkin and a plate, or a crumb-scraper, 
and then bring in the dessert, and pass that as 
you did the other dishes. The water pitcher may 
need replenishing, and this is a good time to do it. 

Now, of course, if your mother has a more 
formal way even than this, of serving her meals, 
it will be best for you to learn all you can about 
tlie fine points of serving; but if, on the other 
hand (as is often the case, in large families living 
alone in the country), she has had to get along 
without help and consequently had to let people 
wait on themselves, without regard to the usages 
of polite society, I think she will greatly appreci- 

26 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ate it if you will start a new order of things. 
Your meals will actually taste better if the table 
is set in an orderly way, the linen spotless, and 
whatever food there is, be it much or little, attrac- 
tively prepared and served. All the members of 
the family will appreciate it, and you will be very 
proud of your table if a guest drops in and sees 
how well you understand these things. 



^7 



CHAPTER IV 

A Dainty Living-room 

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. 

Everyone likes to see pretty things about the 
living-room, and my girls will all he interested in 
learning the right way to care for bric-a-brac, 
books, music and pictures. Nothing detracts 
from their beauty so much as dust and finger- 
marks, and it requires some experience to handle 
and keep them clean. Vases, statuettes and orna- 
ments of all kinds should be examined every 
sweeping day. Dust them with a soft cloth or a 
little brush, and the pieces that need washing 
remove to the kitchen. The others can be set in 
another room or covered on a table while the rooms 
are being cleaned, and then carefully replaced. 
The pieces that need washing should be put in a 
basin of warm soapsuds, and scrubbed gently with 
a nail-brush or a small, fine bristle brush such as 
artists use, but first be sure that the decorations 
will not wash off. 

^8 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



FLOWER HOLDERS. 

All bowls, vases and jugs used for flowers need 
to be cleaned frequently or the decaying leaves 
and stems will cause a bad odour; besides, clear 
glass ornaments show the sediment inside. The 
finest cut glass vase is not attractive unless it is 
clean, and after being brushed in the warm suds 
and washed inside with a cloth, it can be rinsed in 
clear water and left to drain dry. Bisque and 
fine china ornaments with a rough exterior will 
have to be dusted with a small, long-haired paint- 
brush. It will prove a great help, too, in cleaning 
the corners of a nice piece of statuary or a hand- 
some lamp. Cheese-cloth makes the best kind of 
dusting cloths, as I have told you before, and after 
it has been washed it is as soft as the finest linen. 

BOOKS AND MUSIC. 

Books and music require particularly clean 
hands and dusters. Wipe off lightly those out of 
use, dust the table or piano where they belong, and 
after replacing, cover them with a piece of old 
sheet if they are to be left in the room during 
sweeping. Books in cases are not handled so 
often, but unless behind glass doors they should 
be protected also by sheets on cleaning days. 

29 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Straiglitcii up the loose music, and try to keep 
vocal and instrumental, popular and classical, in 
separate piles. A music cabinet, of course, is 
best for this purpose, but where there is none, a 
small table will answer the purpose. For a small 
collection a piano bench with a box under the seat 
is very convenient. 

CLEANING. 

Pictures collect the dust quickly as you will 
find when you really begin to see things with a 
housekeeper's eyes, and you must not only wipe 
off what is in sight from the visitor's point of view, 
but get up on a chair, clean the top of the frame, 
rub off the glass, and then, turning the whole pic- 
ture around very gently, face toward the wall, and 
dust the back. 

In a house having hardwood floors and rugs, 
these things I have been telling you are all to be 
done after the rugs have been taken out, but 
before the floor has been wiped ; otherwise the dust 
would all settle down on the clean floor. Even 
where heavy carpets have to be swept, I prefer to 
have most of such cleaning done first, then the 
windows opened to let out the dust from the 
sweeping, for if the carpets are kept properly 
cleaned and then are gone over with the damp 

30 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

broom or the moistened papers I liave before men- 
tioned, there will not be a great amount of dust 
to fly, and whatever does settle can be easily 
removed afterward. 

CARE OF FURNITURE. 

You will remember also that I told you about 
taking out the small pieces of furniture in doing 
a room, and setting the chairs and tables in another 




POLISHING FURNITURE. 



apartment. You may notice that some of the 
pieces show scratches or marred spots. If so, a 
little furniture polish • — your mother probably 
has her own favourite kind — will make things 
like new. Take a small end of a cheese-cloth and 

31 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

after shaking the bottle wet a httlc place, apply it 
to the dull or damaged spots, and then rub to a 
polish with the dry end. You may find it makes 
it look so well that you will be tempted to go all 
over it, but don't undertake too much. You must 
be very careful, however, not to leave the slightest 
trace of the cleaner, or it might ruin somebody's 
clothes. 

PRESERVING THE PIANO. 

You ought to give special care to the piano, 
for it cost a lot of money and you want it to last 
a good many years. Don't keep it closed, either, 
for it needs sunshine and air as much as the plants 
and flowers, strange to say, though many people 
do not know it. Darkness and dampness will 
yellow the ivories and rust the strings, so use but 
do not abuse 3^our instrument. Always close it 
on sweeping day, of course, to keep out the dust. 
Wipe the keys frequently with a damp cloth and 
dry innnediatcly, but be careful not to get a drop 
of water in any of the crevices ! A duster of fancy 
wool on a handle is ornamental enough to be left 
hanging in a convenient spot (for no pianist can 
bear dusty keys). Or a square of chamois is 
nice for cleaning, but our old friend the cheese- 
cloth is far cheaper and every bit as good. 

32 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



CLEANING RUGS. 

In our first lesson, you know, I told you how to 
sweep a room covered with carpet ; hut if your liv- 
ing-room has a polished floor with small rugs, take 
outside all the rugs that have to he cleaned. 
They are not hard to handle, but do not attempt 
to shake them or hang them on a line. Either 
way is sure to injure them in time. I once had 
a fine Persian rug badly damaged by being hung 
up and then whipped with a carpet-beater. The 
safest, as well as the easiest, way is to lay the rugs 
face down on the grass, beat lightly with the flat 
side of a broom, and then sweep well on both 
sides. In stormy weather I have mine thoroughly 
swept on each side, out on the porch. This keeps 
all the dust out of the house, and saves work. 

POLISHED rLOORS. 

Go over the bare floor first with a brush or a 
broom covered with a cloth, and then dust it with 
a piece of cheese-cloth. Varnished floors can be 
wiped with a damp cloth, frequently wrung out 
of cold water, but hardwood or waxed floors only 
need a clean, dry cloth until the time for their 
regular treatment. Then some people use one 
thing, some another. A good floor wax comes in 

33 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR IJTTLE GIRLS 

half-pound cans, and it is a very simple matter to 
rub on a little with a piece of the cheese-cloth, and 
then polish with a larger cloth. Remember, I do 
not intend to have my little girls start in to take 
full care of a house with polished floors, as that 
would be too much. But I do want them to learn 
how to do everything about the house, and enough 
experience of this kind to teach them the right 
way to care for a nice floor will not hurt either 
their pride or their fingers. 

THE READING-LAMP. 

Do you use a reading-lamp in your living- 
room? Then, by all means learn how to take care 
of it. Lamps are particularly fashionable now, 
and many are fixed for gas or electricity, instead 
of oil, because they are as useful as they are or- 
namental. If you burn oil, however, get mother 
to show you how her lamp comes apart to be 
filled and cleaned, for different kinds vary. Then 
be sure of these things: 

First, do not spill the oil in filling. 

Second, take a little stick and scrape off the 
charred part of the wick and then rub it smooth 
wdth a bit of rag or paper, as this will make a 
more even flame than cutting with the scissors. 

Third, wipe every part of the lamp clean and 

34 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

dry, brushing out any cliarred pieces of wick or 
match that may have dropped In by the wick. 

Fourth, be sure the lamp is properly screwed 
together after filling. 

Fifth, never fill a lamp anywhere near a light 
or a fire. 

Sixth, keep the chimney bright. Tissue-paper 
is very good for ordinary polishing, but if the 
chimney is badly smoked you will have to wash it 
in soap-suds, rinse and dry with a clean cloth. 
If you do this, it might be well to leave for a while 
in a warm place to get thoroughly dry before 
lighting. 

There, all that talk about the care of a lamp! 
but I am sure if you ever have to stay In a close 
room with one, on a cold night with the windows 
shut, you will be glad indeed to know how to keep 
it clean, so it will not smell or smoke. 



35 



CHAPTER V 

An Attractive Upstairs 

Order is Heaven's first law. 

Pope. 

Yon will find, I am sure, that the care of the 
bedrooms is one of the most Important (as well as 
one of tlie most Interesting) parts of all your 
housekeeping. The sleeping-room can be made 
as attractive as any In the house with a little care, 
just as It can be made a sight to shut the door on, 
by neglect. No matter how simple the furnish- 
ing, it will reflect the charm and personality of its 
occupant if always sweet, neat and orderly ; and 
no amount of fine furniture will overcome the 
effect on character of dust and disorder. There- 
fore — be tidy. 

MAKING THE BED. 

On getting up In the morning, the bedclothes 
should be thrown back over the foot of the bed or 
spread on chairs near the open window to air. In 
cold weather when the opening of all the bedroom 

36 




37 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

windows and doors would cool off the house too 
much by creating a draft, let each member of the 
family open her window and close her bedroom 
door for a short time, then close her window and 
open her door, and the fresh air will seem to warm 
up even more quickly than the stale air. 

On returning from breakfast, first make the 
bed. The mattress should be turned at least twice 
a week, and you may need to get someone to help 
you do this. Spread the pad on smoothly, and 
then the lower sheet, placing it with the wide hem 
always at the top so that the part that touches 
the feet will come to the bottom every time. 
Place the upper sheet on next, with its wide hem 
at the top, straighten out every wrinkle, and tuck 
both sheets in well across the bottom. (Nothing 
is so disagreeable to some people as having the 
bedclothes pull out at the end.) Then put on the 
comfort or blankets nice and even, and lastly 
the spread. Some housekeepers allow all the 
covers to hang over the side nearly to the floor — 
and where there is a valance attached to the mat- 
tress-cover as on a brass bed, the clothes can not 
be tucked in ; but if Mother has good old-fashioned 
wooden bedsteads, then you can fold under every- 
thing, leaving a smooth, white, inviting bed. And 
when the pillows have been well shaken and puffed 

39 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

up as big as possible before laying carefully in 
place, your bed will look just as it should; then 
if you have an extra comfort, fold it over and over 
so as to make a nice roll, and place it across the 
foot of the bed. 

ORDER NEXT TO CLEANLINESS. 

Next put your room in order by hanging every 
article of clothing out of sight. If, unfortu- 
nately, you have not a closet, ask mother to allow 
you to have a curtain to hang over your hooks, 
and not only protect your clothing but also add 




CARE OF THE BEDS. 

to the neat appearance of your room. This cur- 
tain material may be cheap, but should match the 
furnishings. Put your shoes away, keep your 
good hat in a box, and hang your extra coat on a 
coat-hanger or even a piece of broom-handle, if 
you can get nothing better. This coat-hanger or 
stick will be nicer if first wrapped in cotton con- 

40 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

taining a little sachet powder, and then covered 
with some odd piece of silk or ribbon. But never 
hang a coat or waist up by the back of the collar 
or the armhole. 

If you have carpet on your room it should be 
sw^ept thoroughly once a week in the way I have 
told 3 ou to do the down-stairs work. If you have 
matting, sweep it crosswise with a brush or a 
broom covered with a cloth. Shake the rugs out- 
side and sweep on the grass ; and if you have a 
polished floor, wipe it with a soft cloth as I told 
you before. The mirrors as well as the windows 
will get dim and dirty, and to clean them take clear 
warm water with a little ammonia, wash over 
quickly w^ith a small cloth, then rinse this out and 
after wringing dry, wipe the glass with it, and 
polish with a piece of cheese-cloth. The curtains 
will keep fresh longer if twice a month you take 
them outside and shake off every bit of loose dust ; 
and they should be made of some simple material 
that will permit of their being washed and boiled. 

TOILET ARTICLES, 

Of course my little girls will take especial pride 
in the care of the washstand and dresser. Wash 
the toilet articles every morning after using, clean 
and dry the bowl, wipe out the soap dish, and carry 

41 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

out the slop-jar when you go after fresh water, if 
you have not a bath-room. Straighten up the top 
of the dresser, put pins, needles and hairpins in 
cushions, lay collars and ribbons in boxes (for I 
am sure you all delight in keeping your drawers 
in beautiful order), set toilet bottles, manicure 
articles, brushes, etc., in place, and wipe away 
every particle of dust. Also use the dusting cloth 
on every other piece of furniture, and wipe off all 
the woodwork. Pull all the window shades down 
the same distance, and straighten up any books, 
pictures and magazines you may have about. 
Then step to the door, just as if you were a 
stranger, take a look about 3^ou, and unless I am 
greatly mistaken you will be surprised to see how 
much improvement you have made in your room. 

NEAT CLOSETS. 

A closet is a bad place for getting out of order, 
and unless you are careful every time you put a 
garment away, will soon appear too crowded to 
hold any more. Then the remedy is to lay out 
everything, and replace the way you like, remov- 
ing to some other closet (or even a box in the 
attic) all unnecessary articles. 

A shelf across the top of the closet will give a 
lot of extra room for boxes to hold hats, shirt- 

42 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

waists, the party dress, etc., and then there will 
be space along the under side of the shelf for 
your father to put in an extra row of hooks so 
you can hang your clothing two rows deep with- 
out creasing or crushing. 

In your top dresser-drawer you can keep better 
order too, if you will use separate boxes to hold 
your handkerchiefs, collars, ties, ribbons, etc. 
The ribbons, particularly, will keep fresh much 
longer if they are smoothed out each time they are 
worn and laid out straight or wrapped around a 
card. 

THE BATH-ROOM. 

If your house has running water, you certainly 
must learn how to clean the bath-room. First of 
all, remove the rug, sweep up the dust, and wipe 
the floor with a damp cloth. Take the scouring 
soap and wash out the bath-tub, being sure to get 
off the ring that settles around the edge if the 
water is at all hard. When all nice and white, 
rinse out with fresh water and wipe dry. Next 
scour the top of the washstand and the faucets, 
wipe off any particles of soap, wash out the bowl 
and wipe it dry. If the toilet needs attention, 
make a stiff roll of an old newspaper and clean 
it with the end of that, flushing frequently so that 

43 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

^fpu cam sec you arc getting it clean. You do not 
need to evci^ wet your hands by doing it this way, 
but when it is done wrap up the paper in a dry 
pjece, and take down-s,t^irs to be burned or carried 
away. Pohsh the bath-room mirror and window, 
remove all soiled and wet linen, put out fresh 
towels, Avipe the dust from the molding, and after 
shaking and sweeping the mat outside, spread it 
down in front of the bath-tub. 

THE LINEN PRESS. 

There is real pleasure in handling masses of 
snowy sheets and pillow cases, and they should be 
laid in symmetrical piles, smooth and cycn. Large 
sheets should he pLiccd by themselves, with the 
threc-(|uartcr and single ones where they can be 
obtained at a moment's notice without stopping to 
unfold and measure. Pillow cases should be 
matched and piled together, so placed that there 
will be no difficulty about getting the sizes desired 
quickly 1. Towels should be stacked conveniently, 
too, so that those for ordinary use will be riglit at 
hand, while the fine ones kept for special occasions 
will be within reach yet back far enough that they 
will not be picked up by mistake. Spreads should 
be folded wrong side out, so they can not possibly 

U 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

get soiled on the shelves, which must be kept nice 
and fresh, with clean papers. 

HALL AND STAIRS. 

The upper hall and the stairs are to be cleaned 
in the same way as the living-room. If carpeted, 
close all the doors into the bedrooms, so that the 
dirt will not spread. Sweep lightly toward the 
light, using the damp tea leaves or moistened 
scraps of newspaper if the carpet is very dusty, 
taking up all the hall sweepings before touching 
the stairs. For the steps a whisk broom will be 
the most convenient, brushing from each step 
directly into the pan and thus avoiding the scat- 
tering of the dust. If the hall and stairs are un- 
carpeted, go over them first with a brush, and then 
with a cloth. Dust the banister carefully, and 
all the woodwork. 

Being a model housekeeper has always meant 
much, and in the Bible we read of the good woman, 

" She looketh well to the ways of her household, 
and eateth not the bread of idleness. * * * Her 
price is far above rubies." 



45 



CHAPTER VI 

Law and Order in the Kitchen 

Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor 
rambling in thought. 

Marcus Aurelius. 

Even a child, I believe, feels the pleasure of 
going into a fresh, clean kitchen, and I want all 
niv little housekeepers to learn how to keep things 
nice. Every girl wants to become a good cook, 
but this means that she should also learn how to 
take care of the place she has to work in, and to 
make her labor as light as possible. 

In the first place, a little care will keep the floor 
spotless quite a Avhile. After it has been freshly 
scrubbed, see that no grease is allowed to spatter 
from the stove, or dishwater be spilled around the 
sink. After a time it will come so natural to be 
careful about these little details that you will 
scarcely think of them. The stove itself, unless 
you use gas, will be a source of dust and ashes, so 
be careful in opening and closing the doors not to 

46 




A FRESH, CLEAN KITCHEN. 
47 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

allow any to get on the floor. Always spread a 
paper down first if yon have to fix a fire, and then 
jou can clean up quickly afterward. 




CT.EAXIXG THE STOyE. 



TAKING CAKE OF FOOD. 

Next, be mindful of all the food, cooked and 
uncooked. Meat, fruit and fresh yegetables 
should always be put on ice, or in a cold place, as 
soon as they come in. The food left after a meal 
should be sorted oyer, and small quantities put in 
small covered dishes where they will be sure to be 
seen and used while they are good. If not enough 
to be served alone fragments can be utilized in 
soups, stews, salads, or as garnishings for desserts. 
A plain boiled rice will look very attractive if 

49 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

dotted with small bits of red jelh', or slices of a 
rich preserved peach. 

]\Iilk and cream ought not to be allowed to 
stand in the warm kitchen a moment longer than 
necessary. jNIeasure out what is going to be used, 
and set the rest back immediately on the ice. 
Butter, eggs and lard should be handled in the 
same way, the small quantity of butter coming 
from the table being put aside for cake, pastry, 
etc. Suet and scraps of fat must be saved to 
" try out " for cooking, bacon grease put by itself 
to be clarified, and other fat hardly suitable for 
frying put in a kettle for soap. You would l)e 
surprised to see what fine white kitchen soap can 
be made with very little time or trouble! One 
person I know recently made, in about an hour, 
from the accumulations of a fifteen-pound crock 
of such grease and the addition of twenty cents' 
worth each of lye and powdered borax $8.00 worth 
of soap as white as castile, and which also would 
float. 

COVERING EATABI.ES. 

Never leave any kind of food open, exposed to 
the air, for dust blows whether you notice it or 
not, and flies and mice are always ready to take 
advantage of the unsuspecting housekeeper. 

50 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Cover up everything! And what you do not want 
kept air-tiglit, tie over with a small piece of nap- 
kin or cheese-cloth. Fresh fish ought to be kept 
next to the ice, but as it is sure to taint the butter 
and milk in the ice-box, I always put it in a 
closely covered dish or crock. Broken portions 
of cooked fish should be picked apart and placed 
in a covered bowl, ready to be creamed or made 
into croquettes, while fruit which might not keep 
over night will be nice if stewed and served with 
hot biscuit for breakfast. So do not throw out 
anything that is good. 

Watch your ice-box. Make it a rule to empty 
it entirely at least twice a week, and wash out 
every part with warm soapsuds, pushing a tiny 
piece of cloth with a slender stick through the 
drain pipe. An ice-box must always be fresh 
and sweet. 

In the china closet have the plates, saucers, etc., 
piled up separately, the largest pieces at the back, 
and the cups (where possible) hung from hooks. 
Keep the glasses in nice straight lines, each kind 
by itself, and really study to see the prettiest pos- 
sible arrangement. The kitchen closet, too, can 
show just as good taste and systematic care; and 
it is a pleasure to work where things are in place, 
neat and clean. 

51 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



A LITTLK LAIXDRESS. 

How iiuiny of joii, I wonder, have ever wanted 
to wear a favourite wliite dress and had mother 
say, " No, dear, you can not, because it is not 
clean enougli and we can not take tlie time now to 
wasli and iron it?" Can you guess wliat I am 
going to tell you next? Well, I will illustrate 
with a true story. A child ten years old wanted 
to wear a very fine fancy white dress to dancing- 
school every week, but her mother objected be- 
cause she could not do up the dress herself and 
the maid was not skilful enough. What did the 
little girl do? She said, " Mannna, if you will let 
Katy wash and starch my dress, I'll iron it my- 
self!" It was all ruffles and fine Valenciennes 
lace, but thinking the child would thereby learn 
the value of dainty clothes, the mother consented. 
^ly little friend found the task rather harder than 
she expected the first time, but she succeeded so 
well, and made the dress look so nice, that she was 
allowed to wear it whenever she wished, on suit- 
able occasions. 

POINTS ox LAUNDRY WORK. 

So, if you want to put on a favourite waist that 
happens not to be clean, just see what you can do 

52 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

with it. If white, first put to soak in cold water 
and a Httle soap, leaving ten or fifteen minutes. 
If coloured, however, make a slightly warm suds 
with white soap, but do not soak. Then if your 
material is very fine, rub with your hands care- 
fully, so it will not tear. Be sure to get the neck- 
band and cuffs clean, as these parts are the most 
soiled. When you are sure every part is per- 
fectly clean press out lightly in your hands, but 
do not wring hard, or you might strain the ma- 
terial. Rinse first in clear water, and then in a 
slightly blue water. Should you need starch, ask 
mother or the maid how much she thinks you will 
require for the size garment you have, and put it 
in a pan with enough cold water to dissolve. 
Then pour in, very slowly, boiling water from the 
teakettle to make it thick, but transparent, stir- 
ring all the time to avoid lumps. Add, too, a 
drop of blueing and either a little speck of lard, 
a few drops of kerosene, or a small quantity of 
borax, whichever your mother prefers, to keep the 
starch from sticking, and boil a few moments. If 
you want your waist quite stiff, leave the starch 
thick, but if you desire only a little firmness, such 
as you see in new goods, dilute with cold water 
until rather thin. Rub well into the material and 
press through your hands again (without wring- 

53 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ing) as you did with the rinse water. Shake out 
well and pin on the line so that the wind can fill 
out and dry quickly, hut rcmeniher to always hang 
coloured goods in the shade. 

When you are ready to do your ironing, bring 
it, back, all stiff and sweet-smelling from the sun- 
slilne and air, sprinkle lightly with tepid water, 
roll up tightly to spread the dampness evenly, and 
leave a little while. Have your irons clean and 
hot, but not so they will scorch. Put the ironing- 
board where you can reach it easily, be sure the 
cover is spotless, and have a paper or rag to wipe 
your iron every time you change. 

' Pull out all the points of lace and embroidery 
edging and iron on the wrong side. If you are 
doing a dress, however, you will find it easier to 
take the skirt first and leave the waist rolled up 
so it will not get too dry. Iron the bottom hem 
first so you will get that even, then stretch and iron 
each gore lengthwise, to keep the skirt in shape. 
Take the sleeves next, smoothing them out on the 
board before you begin by straightening from the 
inside seam across to the elbow. If you have a 
regular sleeve-board, it may help you to make 
them look nice. Then lastly, the body of the 
waist, taking pains to keep it from pulling 
crooked. 

54 



CHAPTER VH 

Holiday Preparations 

At Christmas play and make good cheer, 
For Christmas comes but once a year. 

Tusser. 

Now, if yon are going to be real capable little 
housekeepers, you will not leave all the prepara- 
tions for Christmas until the last moment. There 
will be as much as you can possibly do then, so 
commence several days beforehand to help mother 
get the house nice and clean. Our other lessons 
have told you how to do this, and then you can 
take the day before Christmas to put up the holi- 
day trimmings. 

My city children will of course go to the near- 
est grocery or market or the pedlar on the corner 
for their greens. At one of these places they will 
choose their tree, big or little, and select their 
mistletoe and holly. My little country maids, 
however, will have a joy their metropolitan sisters 
have never dreamed of — that of going directly to 
the fields and woods to help Father cut the wonder- 

55 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ful tree and search for the evergreens. If far- 
sighted enough, they gathered balsam and bitter- 
sweet late in the autumn, and so have that ah'eady 
at home, waiting to be woven into wreaths or hung 
in natural bunches wherever it will look prettiest. 

DECORATING THE HOUSE. 

Great bunches of green, securely fastened over 
doors and window-sills in halls and living-rooms, 
give a festive touch hardly obtainable even with 
festoons, which, by the way, are made by wrap- 
ping small sprigs to a slender cord or wire. A 
pretty way is to use the large branches and the 
big bouquets everywhere but in the dining-room, 
and to trim that with the garlands. Have these 
start from the light directly over the table, and 
caught up to the picture-moulding or the ceiling 
at different points around the room. For a cen- 
trepiece, on the dining-table, have a beautiful 
bunch of holly, with red ribbons leading to each 
plate, and a dinner card with the name, and a small 
sprig of green for each person to wear. A bit of 
mistletoe will furnish amusement for young and 
old. 

A stairway can be made beautiful by winding 
the rail with garlands and tying large bunches of 
greens at regular intervals to the banisters, hiding 

56 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

the newel post with holly. Such decorations will 
not injure the finest woodwork, either. The 
making of festoons and wreaths will furnish many 
a pleasant evening's pastime before Christmas, 
but you must not forget to keep all greens out in 
the cold or they will get dry and look old before 
they are needed. 

Wreaths for every window make a house look 
particularly pretty ; and while they would cost 
considerable if bought at the stores at usual prices, 
they cost only the time and trouble if prepared at 
home. Geraniums and fuchsias will take on a 
gala look if the pots are wrapped in green or white 
crepe paper, and tied in place with scarlet baby 
ribbon. 

PAPER DECORATIONS. 

Some of my little city girls, though, may want 
to trim their homes and yet not be able to buy the 
necessary quantity of evergreens. This calls to 
mind one year when two sisters, of ten and twelve, 
thought it would be great fun to make yards and 
yards of paper chains (like the wee tots do in 
kindergarten) to trim their dining-room and the 
bay-window holding the tree. Green French tis- 
sue-paper costs only one cent a sheet, and they cut 
that in strips four inches long by half an inch 

57 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

wide, and using a paste of flour and water, pasted 
one ring inside another until they had a great 
quantity of chains, each ten to fifteen feet long. 
Some chains they made of red and yellow papers, 
too. Then, the night before Christmas, father 
was called to tie them to the chandelier, and fes- 
toon around the room. These decorations pleased 
them immensely and cost scarcely anything. 

THE PRESENTS. 

If you do not expect to have a Christmas tree 
— and one is not always possible or even desira- 
ble — then have the presents, all tied in fancy 
tissue-paper and baby ribbon, piled up on the 
piano or the table in the corner. But of course 
the small brothers and sisters must be warned 
against going near these precious parcels until the 
time comes for their distribution. 

And this brings up the subject of presents — a 
most important one for young and old. Don't 
forget that it takes away from the joyousness of 
tlie day to feel that you have spent more than you 
ought, or used for gifts money really needed for 
other things. Start in a month beforehand, make 
a list of all the people you wish to remember, and 
set down the sum you can spend. If you only 
have one dollar, that is all the more reason for see- 

58 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ing how far you can make it go. Many little re- 
membrances you can easily and quickly make your- 
self, if only a card tied on a blotter, with " A 
Merry Christmas " in fancy letters across the 
top, or a small calendar on a novel mounting. 

PLANTS. 

Did you ever think, by the way, what a nice 
present a growing plant makes .^^ While everyone 
loves cut flowers, they are very expensive at this 
season, and soon wither ; a plant, however, with 
ordinary care, keeps getting prettier. So, if you 
are in doubt about what to give mother or sister, 
suppose you decide on a dainty fern or a small 
palm. Several varieties of the ferns can be 
bought at the florist's as cheap as fifteen and 
twenty cents apiece (for the small ones), and if 
you make a selection early in December and ask 
the man to hold it for you, you will get a choice 
of the plants at the lowest price. These little 
ferns are very pretty to set on the dining-room 
table, and, tied with a fresh piece of tissue-paper 
around the pot every few days, always look nice. 
Then, in a few months, if it has grown well, take 
it back to the florist and liave it put in a larger 
pot, and it will be nicer than ever. Yet better 
and cheaper still are the flowers you have grown 

59 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

yourself. Bulbs cost only a few cents apiece, but 
the narcissus or hyacinth that you have tenderly 
cared for and brought to fragrant perfection will 
prove a most delicate and acceptable offering. 

If you have a camera, try to get a few pretty 
pictures of familiar landscapes or woodland 
scenes, some beautiful trees or cattle in the fields, 
a good snap-shot of a member of the family, or 
even your favourite pet. A photograph of this 
kind mounted on a card above a tiny calendar, or 
a collection of pictures for one you know cares for 
such things, is far more acceptable often than 
many articles costing a large amount of money. 
It is the thoughtfulness evidenced in the selection 
of a gift that makes us feel the love which accom- 
panies it and gives it the real value. 

SOME INEXPENSIVE GIFTS. 

Then one more hint on presents. Collect all 
your old magazines and family papers and cut 
them to pieces. Put recipes in one pile for your 
newly married aunty ; sewing and embroidery hints 
in another for the cousin that likes to make her 
own clothes ; cut out the short stories for the in- 
valid friend that likes to read ; give the puzzles 
and answers to some playmate, and paste the 
pretty pictures on sheets of wrapping paper to 

60 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

make a scrap-book for the little children. There 
are innumerable things of this kind that you can 
do. Just think how many presents you can make 
this way without costing you a penny ! 

TRIMMING THE TREE. 

If you are going to have a tree, you should pop 
your corn and string it in plenty of time for the 
trimming. A cranberry run in every few inches 
will give the desirable touch of red. Get half a 
yard of tarletan, cut out little stockings and over- 
cast them with bright wool. Here, again, if you 
are a city girl, you will probably buy the candy 
and nuts to fill these stockings at the nearest store ; 
but if you live away out on some farm, you will 
have the nuts that you gathered yourself, and as 
for the candy, why, one of your last cooking les- 
sons told you how to make a lot of different kinds. 
A box of such candy is always an acceptable 
present. 

If money is scarce for buying ornaments sup- 
pose you ask Mother to let you use your cooky 
recipe, and when your dough is rolled out nice and 
thin, cut out funny people and odd cats and dogs. 
When baked and swelled to all sorts of shapes, and 
tied to the branches of 3^our tree, they will please 
the little children more than expensive ornaments, 

6X 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Nuts can be gilded and then suspended by 
thread; rosy apples will look pretty swung from 
the branches with baby ribbon, and a cornucopia 
for each one present, made from white writing 
paper or wrapping paper covered with red crepe 
paper, will hold the candy and popcorn, making 
an extra gift apiece. The candles come in boxes 
of two dozen each, as cheap as ten cents. Father 
will fit the tree securely in a box or stand, so there 
will be no danger of it upsetting, and you can 
spread an old sheet under it to keep the candle 
grease from the carpet. Then, to avoid any pos- 
sibility of fire, have a bucket of water close at 
hand. 



63 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 
PART II 



CHAPTER I 

Curious Facts About Things We 

Eat 

Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value. 

La Fontaine. 

In beginning I must tell you that we are going 
to use some big words which you must under- 
stand in order to know what we are talking about. 
Of course you are perfectly familiar with such 
common articles as salt, paper, water and wood. 
Such things are called " substances," and are 
really made up of several different things. 
Things which are not combinations, however, and 
which can not be further divided, are called " ele- 
ments." 

A long time ago people thought water was an 
element, — something that could not be divided, — 
but they discovered that by passing an electric 
current through it in the right way that they 
could easily separate it into two elements, called 
oxygen and hydrogen. 

Do you know, I wonder, that the human body 

65 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

is made up of fifteen or twenty different elements? 
Well, it is, and the principal ones are 

ox'-v-gen, hy-dro-geii, car'-bon, ni'-tro-gen, 
cal'-ci-um, phos'-phor-us, sul'-phur, 

which I want you to say over and over until you 
have them fixed in your mind, for you are going 
to learn some very interesting things about them. 

Now, these very things which make up our 
body also make up our food. This food serves 
two purposes. Part of it is taken up by the body, 
which builds it right into itself and thus repairs 
the worn parts as well as builds up new ; and part 
of it is turned into the heat and power that we 
need to work and think. 

The human body runs very much like an engine, 
and it requires fuel to keep it running. This fuel 
is the food we eat. The flesh and blood that is 
used in the human engine by our mental and phys- 
ical efforts, is replaced by what we put into our 
stomachs, bodily tissue is built up, and energy (the 
power to do things,) is created. Therefore you 
see the great need of supplying the body with the 
kind of fuel it needs, — good nourishing food. 

WATER. 

When different elements unite, they form what 
are commonly called "" compounds," and when 

66 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

oxygen unites with double its amount of hydrogen, 
the resulting compound is — water. 

While water is not usually called a food, it is 
required in preparing nearly everything we eat, 
and a liberal quantity has to be taken into the 
body to keep it in good condition. A great deal 
is particularly needed to wash away the worn-out 
parts of the body as well as the discarded portions 
of the food ; and this is all replaced by the water 
we get in what we eat as well as by what we drink. 

AIR. 

We can not get along without air any more 
than we can get along without water. We find, 
when we come to study it, that it contains (be- 
sides small quantities of several other things,) 
about one-fifth oxygen and four-fifths nitrogen. 

The oxygen that we take into the lungs by 
breathing is carried by the blood to the parts that 
require it, and the blood then brings back to the 
lungs a waste from the body, called caf-bon 
di-ox-ide, which we throw off with our breath. 

If we sit in a close room we soon fill it with bad 
air, totally unfit to be taken into the lungs 
again, and therefore we see the necessity of 
having our rooms, where we spend so many hours, 
thoroughly ventilated. 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

But do not think tliat this carbon dioxide is 
useless ! Nothing in Nature is wasted, and this 
poisonous gas which human beings and animals 
exhale, is one of tlie foods of plants, trees, and 
other forms of vegetable life. As they take in 
the carbon dioxide, they throw off as their waste 
the pure oxygen so necessary in large quantities 
to our health. 

FOOD. 

Besides water and air, we require to support 
human life a number of other compounds, which 
may be divided into four general classes : — 

Car-bo-hy'drates, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon. 

Fats, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon. 

Pro'te-ins, made of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur and 

nitrogen. 
Mineral matter, made of calcium, phosphorus, iron, sulphur, 

etc. 

As the elements composing these compounds 
are all found in the body, not a single one can be 
left out of our food or the body will show the 
lack. And as you therefore must know more 
about these compounds, I will explain. 

1. The carboliydrates, which are the starches 
and sugars, serve as fuel for the human engine, 
and supply energy for work, although they do 

68 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

not build up the body. The starch is found in 
peas and beans, (called legumes,) potatoes and 
such vegetables, cereals and nuts ; and the sugar 
principally in fruits and vegetables. 




PREPARATIONS. 

2. The fats also serve as fuel, though they do 
not build up the body. They are found in fat 
meats, lard, oil, milk, cream and butter. 

3. The proteins do build up the body, and also 
keep it in repair, while at the same time (as they 
contain carbon,) they serve for fuel. They are 
found in lean meat, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, 
cheese, nuts, oatmeal and wheat. 

4. The minerals serve particularly to build up 
the bones, the teeth, and good, rich, red blood. 
They are found in bread, milk, eggs, meat and 
many vegetables. 



The carbohydrates, aside from water, form 
about two-thirds of all our foods, but the starch 
can not be used in the body until it has been 
changed into sugar, when it is easily absorbed. 

69 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Rice, potatoes, flour and other starchy foods have 
to be changed by heat first, however, to prepare 
them for the chemical action in the moutli and 
stomach that turns them from starch to sugar. 

The mineral matter in foods people usually 
do not know as much about as they do tlie other 
ingredients. This class of elements, however, 
which includes lime and iron, as well as common 
salt, is so very necessary to our welfare and gen- 
eral good health that — would you believe it? — 
were we put on a diet of fats, carbohydrates and 
proteins alone, we should very quickly starve. 

How to combine these different classes, then, 
is the question. 

One perfect meal, suggested by an authority, 
consists of whole wheat bread, unskimmed milk 
and prunes ! Think of it, — so simple. Yet " The 
protein is furnished by both l)read and milk ; fat 
by bread and milk; carbohydrates by bread, milk 
and prunes ; iron by prunes and whole wheat ; 
phosphorus by milk and whole wheat ; calcium by 
milk and whole wheat ; magnesium and potassium 
by prunes, milk and bread; and huUx by prunes 
and whole wheat," — for we feel better when our 
stomachs arc reasonably full, and the bulk is 
needed to carry off the waste. 

In order that you may quickly get an idea of 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



the foods containing these different necessary in- 
gredients, I will give you the following list, which 
I advise you to memorize as you will need it every 
time you plan a meal : 



Carbohydrates. 


Fats. 


Cereals 




Lard 


Peas and beans 




Fat meat 


Starchy foods 




Egg yolk 


Potatoes 




Nuts 


Sweet fruits 




Milk 
Cream 
Butter 
Oil 


Proteins. 




Minerals. 


Meat 


Dried be; 


ans Dried peas 


Cheese 


Whole wheat Green beans 


Eggs 


Meat 


Prunes 


Milk 


Milk 


Spinach 


Nuts 


Parsnips 


Cabbage 


Oatmeal 


Turnips 


Celery 


Wheat 


Potatoes 


Raisins 


Peas 


Eggs 




Beans 







So you see that the important things for every 
cook to learn is to which classes the different foods 
belong, in order that she may have her meals 
nourishing and well-balanced. She will soon dis- 
cover that it has not been mere chance or custom 
that has made people generally adopt the rule 
(which she can pretty safely follow,) of serving 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

fruit, cereals and eggs for breakfast, and soup, 
fish or meat, vegetables and dessert for dinner. 

Where the pocketbook will not admit such a 
variety, though, she can, with care and study, 
provide other combinations costing less that will 
provide the same amount of nourishment. 



CHAPTER II 

The Principles of Cookery 

Cookery is become an art, a noble science. 

Burton. 

Everyone enjoys sitting down to a nice dinner- 
table, bountifully spread, but how many ever stop 
to think of the real uses of food? As food cor- 
responds to the fuel put into an engine, it fur- 
nishes power for body and brain to work ; and 
it also renews the broken down tissues and builds 
up the body. 

Now, while we can eat many things in their 
natural state, we have several good reasons for 
cooking food, one being to make it more digesti- 
ble, another to make it more palatable, and a 
third to destroy disease germs and parasites. The 
cooking, too, makes many kinds that would be 
unfit for use in a raw condition, both inviting and 
nourishing. 

WHAT A COOK SHOULD KNOW. 

The cook, therefore, should understand the 
composition of the different foods, so as to be 

73 



PIOUSEKEEPIXG FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

able to prepare meals that are reasonable in price, 
nourisliing in quality, and suited to the people 
they are intended for. She should know how much 
she can afford to spend, the best way to cook what 
she buys, .and the proper way to serve. Although 
some people seem to have a natural ability for 
cooking, just as they have for nmsic or drawing, 
yet anyone, with study and practice, can learn 
the art. 

A good cook-book is necessary, (though often 
too nuich importance is given to recipes,) and 
every time fi new dish is tried and found satis- 
factory, the '■ directions should be written down 
and kept for future reference. I hope to make 
so plain some of the principles of cookery, how- 
ever, that anyone having learned the general rules 
about the preparation of a few foods in each class, 
will know how to cook the rest. 

EGG COOKERY. 

Eggs are easily digested raw, and are taken by 
invalids either plain or combined with milk, sugar 
and flavouring, for the great amount of nourish- 
ment they contain. 

In both egg and meat (protein) cookery, one 
of the principal points Is to keep the food tender 
by cooking at a low temperature. Eggs, boiled 

74 ■ 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

or poached, for example, should be covered with 
boiling water and then set where they will not 
get any hotter. The coldness of the eggs will 
reduce the temperature to the point where they 
will cook so as to be most digestible. Soft eggs 
should be left from five to ten minutes, and hard 
eggs forty-five minutes, in order to be mealy. 

While we could scarcely cook at all without 
eggs, they lack the carbohydrates, and for that 
reason we generally combine them with other foods 
containing starch and sugar. Mixed with milk 
and sugar, they make a delicious custard which if 
cooked at the proper temperature, — not too hpt 
or too long, — will be perfectly smooth. Com- 
bined with starchy foods like cornstarch, rice, 
tapioca, or bread, they form other puddings. 
Boiled hard and served on toast with cream sauce, 
or mixed Avith cheese, minced ham, peas or rice, 
in a nicely browned omelet, they afford a good 
substitute for meat. 

MEAT COOKERY. 

The way to cook meat depends on the cut of 
meat or the use for which it is intended. 

For soup, cut the meat in small pieces, to ex- 
pose as much of the surface as possible. Cover 
with cold or tepid water, to draw out the juices 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

and those proteins that will dissolve in cold water. 
Of course we know that soup is better when a bone 
is added, and the reason is that in the bone and in 
the marrow is found another kind of protein. 
This kind is not dissolved in cold water, but by 
long continued cooking at low temperature. Any 
cuts of meat will do to make soup, though as ten- 
derness is unnecessary, the cheaper ones are 
preferable. 

The tender cuts of meat, — steaks, chops and 
roasts, — should be cooked with dry heat, such 
as they get in broiling, frying and roasting. This 
heat should be intense at first, to sear over the 
outside and keep the juices from escaping (as they 
would otherwise do,) and then the temperature 
should be lowered in order to cook the inside with- 
out burning the outside. And one rule to be re- 
membered is that the smaller the roast, the hotter 
should be the temperature. 

The tougher pieces of meat require moist heat 
and long continued cooking to make them ten- 
der, and they get both in braising, stewing and 
boiling. 

VEGETABLE COOKERY. 

In cooking vegetables the main points to be 
remembered are as follows : 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

1. Those varieties which have been dried, (peas 
and beans,) should be soaked until double their 
size, then put on in cold water and stewed until 
tender. 

2. The old strongly flavoured kinds, (onions, 
turnips, and cabbage,) should first be left stand- 
ing for an hour or two in cold water, then put 
on with a large quantity of boiling water in an 
uncovered pan, — so that the gases can escape, — 
and cooked as quickly as possible. 

3. Those which have become slightly wilted 
should be freshed by soaking in cold water, or by 
wrapping in a wet cloth and putting in a cool 
place. 

4. The young, tender varieties, (new peas, 
beans, asparagus, etc.,) should be stewed slowly 
in a covered pan, with a small quantity of water, 
to preserve their delicate flavour. 

5. All fresh vegetables, except old potatoes, 
should be put on to cook in boiling water, salted 
when nearly done, removed from the fire when 
tender, and drained immediately. 

CEREAL COOKERY. 

To be both digestible and palatable, all cereals 
must be provided with water enough to swell them 
thoroughly and then given time enough to cook 

77 



HOUSKKEKPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

until perfectly done. The coarser the grain, the 
more water and the more time required. The 
printed directions on package goods seldom call 
for enougli of either. Too little water or too 
little cooking leaves the mush thick, dry and 
sticky, — unfit for the stomach because the un- 
cooked starch in the grain is indigestible. 

DIRECTIONS FOR THE FINER GROUND CEREALS. 

1. Take necessary amount of boiling water, 
well salted. (Three cups of water will be required 
for one cup of rolled oats, to insure perfect cook- 
ing.) 

S. Sprinkle cereal into the boiling water, and 
stir constantly for five minutes, while cooking. 

3. Set on back of the stove or in a double 
boiler, and cook from one to five hours, stirring 
occasionally. 

4. Or, if preferred, cook for an hour in the 
evening, allow to stand in a double boiler over 
night, and cook for another hour before breakfast. 
Oatmeal is particularly delicious cooked the latter 
way. 

Raw starch is absolutely indigestible, and is not 
affected by a cold liquid. A hot liquid, however, 
causes the starch grains to swell and burst, pre- 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

paring them for cooking so tliat thej can be 
digested. 

In preparing the powdered forms of starchy 
foods, such as flour and cornstarcli, the great prin- 
ciple to be remembered is to separate the Httle 
starch grains by some means, such as mixing witli 
l)utter or a cold liquid, so that when heat is ap- 
plied it can reach every separate grain. One good 
illustration of powdered starchy food cookery is 
found in the making of tlie delicious familiar 
white or cream sauce, one of the most important 
things we use. 

WHITE OR CREAM SAUCE. 

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a sauce- 
pan, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir together 
and cook until perfectly smooth and frothy, add 
one cup of milk and stir for five minutes longer 
to keep perfectly smooth until thoroughly cooked. 
Season with salt and pepper. The constant stir- 
ring is necessary to prevent lumps and also to 
keep from scorching. The flour must be cooked 
by moderate heat until perfectly done or it will 
taste raw, however smooth and attractive it looks. 

Made in this way, the sauce is used on fish and 
vegetables. 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Made witli half the quantity of milk, it is used 
in mixing croquettes. 

Made as directed and combined with an equal 
quantity (or more if desired,) of soup stock made 
from fish, meat or vegetables, it forms a cream 
soup. 

SUGAR COOKERY. 

The principles of sugar cookery are to cook 
the sugar or syrup as thick as needed for the 
use to which it is to be put, and to prevent or 
retard it from crystallizing, — as we often say, 
" going to sugar." 

If granulated (cane) sugar is cooked with an 
acid like vinegar or cream of tartar, as candy 
recipes sometimes direct, a part of it is changed 
to a form of sugar called " glucose." This is 
less sweet than the granulated sugar, and does not 
easily crystallize or become " grainy." The pres- 
ence of a small amount of this glucose in cane 
sugar syrup retards crystallization, and makes it 
form smaller crystals when it does crystallize. 

You will see this in the making of cream can- 
dies, such as fudge, fondant and icings. These 
should not be stirred while boiling, as any stirring 
tends to make the syrup crystallize. The crystals 
or grains that do form around the edge of the 

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HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

pan (luring the cooking arc apt to make tlic candy 
crystallize, and so should be wiped away with a 
wet cloth. 

Too much glucose In the syrup, however, will 
prevent crystallization altogether. Be careful 
therefore, not to put too much vinegar or cream 
of tartar in your candy, or it will not get creamy 
at all. 

In making caramels or taffy, which we do not 
want to crystallize, a larger amount of acid is 
necessary, to prevent the candy from going to 
sugar. 

You will be much more sure of getting your 
candy exactly the way it ought to be if you can 
have the use of a cooking thermometer. As the 
syrup thickens the temperature rises, and when 
it reaches the necessary point, you will know the 
candy is done. 115 degrees Centigrade, or 238 
degrees Fahrenheit, shows that the candy has 
reached the " soft ball " stage, which Is right for 
fudge, icing, etc. 123 degrees Centigrade, or 254 
Fahrenheit is right for taffy and the hard, brittle 
candies. 

Anyone just beginning to cook will find it very 
interesting as well as lielpful to experiment first 
with one food of a kind, (like cabbage in the 
vegetable class, or fudge in the candy class,) and 

81 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



then go on with other things in the same class that 
demand the same kind of treatment. In that way 
the rules governing each class will be easily mem- 
orised. 



82 



CHAPTER III 

The Question of Food Values 

Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books. 

Francis Bacon. 

It is time now to think about how we can plan 
our meals in order to combine the necessary kinds 
of foods, — and also to have attractive meals at 
reasonable cost, — for we have found out that in 
order to keep the body well and strong we must 
eat those foods containing all of the elements 
found in the body. 

Most of us in good health can eat the ordinary 
foods, — fish, meat, eggs, butter, milk, cheese, 
sugar, bread, potatoes, vegetables and fruits — 
which make a suitable diet. Of course these should 
be combined in suitable proportions, but both cus- 
tom and common sense will help us in deciding 
how much to use of each. 

Any child, for example, would know — or very 
quickly find out from experience — that a whole 
meal of cake and pie would be not only unsatisfy- 

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HOUSEKEEPIxNG FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ing but would leave unpleasant results. What we 
need is a varied diet, though a good rule for 
people to remember is to eat only those things 
which " agree " with them. 

HOW TO SAVE. 

Planning meals, therefore, is a very important 
work. Particularly is this true if we wish to keep 
down the cost, for it is possible to serve daint}', 
attractive and nourishing dishes at less than half 
the price of others which have no more food 
value. 

Eor instance, a piece of beef costing twelve 
cents a pound could be nicely cooked in a brown 
stew to make it inviting, and be just as nourishing 
as a porterhouse steak costing twenty-eight cents 
a pound. 

For another example, to get a specified amount 
of nourishment a person would have to eat two 
servings of cooked onions to one of green peas, 
but then the onions are so much cheaper in the 
early summer when new vegetables are expensive, 
that the double portions of the onions probably 
would not cost one-quarter as much as the single 
portion of the peas. 

Again, more than twenty times as much energy 
for work will come from five cents worth of dried 

84 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

wliitc beans as from five cents worth of celery. 
Of course we all like the new, fresh vegetables, 
and they have their value, but when people are 
short of money and have to make it go as far as 
possible, they need not suffer from lack of lux- 
uries. It is highly important, therefore, that we 
should learn the food value of the different things 
to eat. 

In our ordinary fare, the chief sources of pro- 
tein (which builds up the tissues of the body,) 
are fish, meat, milk, cereals, and legumes ; nearly 
all of the fat comes from the animal foods: the 
carbohydrates (which with the fats furnish our 
energy,) come from the vegetable foods and milk, 
while the mineral matter (needed for various rea- 
sons but particularly for building bones, teeth, and 
good rich blood,) is found in all of the common 
foods. 

SOME SIMPLE MENUS. 

It is comparatively easy, then, when we know 
this much, to get the right things together. If 
you are interested enough to want to know more, 
however, write to the Secretary of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C, and tell him you would like 
to have the government bulletins on food values 
and diet. He will send you, free of charge, some 

85 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

little pamphlets, giving just the inforiimtion you 
desire. 

To show 3'ou how simple and at the same time 
how nourishing a day's meals can be, I will give 
you a set of menus provided by one eminent au- 
thority : 

Breakfast. 
Shredded wheat biscuit 

14 ^up cream 
Bread Butter 

Apple sauce 





Dinner. 




oiled beef 


Spinach 


Baked i)otato 


Bread 




Butter 


Cream 


Rice 
Supper. 


pudding 


Bread 




Butter 


Prunes 




Cream 



You will find it almost necessar}^ if you are 
going to be a careful manager, to plan the meals 
in advance. By so doing you will save time, 
strength and money. If you want a nice roast 
of beef for dinner on Sunday, order one a little 
larger than necessary, so there will be some left 
over for dinner on Monday. This can be sliced 
cold and served with baked potatoes, escalloped 

86 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

cabbage or tomatoes, and a baked pudding, all of 
which can be cooked at one time in the oven. If 
the supply of left-over meat is small, however, 
cut it in little pieces and reheat, with diced po- 
tatoes, in the gravy. Or, if you can, add one- 
quarter cup each of diced carrots, turnips and 
celery, with a small onion, cooked half an hour, 
and you will have a delicious stew. 

If the supply of meat is insufficient for a meal, 
you can use milk, cheese and eggs to advantage 
for a substitute. 

Salads have a high food value, are always ac- 
ceptable, and when made with eggs, fish or meat 
and served with bread, bring together in one mix- 
ture the five food principles we require. 

THE NEED OF BEING CAREFUL. 

If we would get the full value of all our food, 
from the point of view of both nourishment and 
cost, we should keep it clean and fresh. Vegeta- 
bles and fruits, particularly when they are to be 
eaten raw, should be closely examined for worms 
and bugs, and then placed where they will keep 
fresh, away from flies. Meat should be put in 
a cold place immediately on coming into the house, 
and butter and milk also kept cold and away from 
all odours. Eggs, too, must be kept as cold as 

87 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

possible, to preserve their freshness. All dishes 
and cooking utensils should be kept out of reach 
of dust, and then wiped before being used. Par- 
ticularly should staple dry groceries, such as 
cornmeal, boxed cereals, currants and raisins be 
closely examined, as often they get wormy after 
being opened. In fact, all foods should be care- 
fully looked over, in a strong light, at the time 
they are to be used. 

The actual food value of an attractively pre- 
pared dish is far greater than is generally real- 
ised. Authorities tell us that which appeals to 
the eye as well as the palate is really better di- 
gested. We know that invalids often will eat some- 
thing specially prepared that they would not 
touch if cooked in the ordinary way. Let us there- 
fore take pains to make everything we serve as 
inviting as possible. 



88 



CHAPTER IV 

Planning Economical Meals 

Serenely full, the epicure would say, 

Fate can not harm nie, — I have dined to-day. 

Sidney Smith. 

In order to plan your meals as economically 
as possible, always arrange them ahead of time 
with reference to using at once the things that 
might spoil, and to buying what is reasonable in 
price because it is in season. 

The staple groceries like sugar, coffee, flour, 
etc., can be ordered a week or even a month in 
advance, thus saving further study of that sub- 
ject as well as the difference in price between large 
and small lots. 

The fruits, vegetables and meat need to be or- 
dered only once a week in winter and two or three 
times a week in summer. Indeed, I have known 
people skilful enough in household management 
to get along with ordering only once a week the 
year around. 

Suppose you try this yourself and see how well 

89 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



you can do it. I am sure tliat mother would be 
glad to have you relieve her of thinking about 
what to eat for a week, and you would learn many 
things. 

ORDERING IN ADVANCE. 

If 3^ou have to plan for a family of four or 
five, suppose you market on Friday, when you will 
be sure of getting fresh fish for your first dinner. 
A hind quarter of lamb would furnish chops to 
be broiled for dinner Saturday, and a leg to be 
roasted for Sunday. Then as you would not want 
to serve the same kind of meat three days in suc- 
cession, you could keep the remaining portions on 
ice until Tuesdaj'^, Avhen they would make a fine 
lamb-and-pea pie. Steak would be acceptable for 
dinner Monday, and boiled ham or corned beef 
served hot for Wednesday and sliced cold for 
Thursday. Thus all the meat would be used 
while it was perfectly fresh. 

Of the fruits and vegetables that you buy, use 
the most delicate kinds, — those that spoil most 
quickly, — like lettuce and berries, for the first 
meals, keeping those more solid, like beets and 
peaches, for the end of the week. Anything in 
danger of spoiling can be cooked and put in the 
ice-box until needed. 

90 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

In preparing potatoes, one way to save time, 
strength and fire is to cook a large quantity at 
once. The first may be served mashed or plain 
boiled, the next diced in cream sauce, and the 
rest either fried, scalloped or made into a salad. 
If put in a cold place, they will keep nicely for 
several days. 

Many people now use little or no meat, but al- 
most everyone wants plenty of fresh vegetables 
and fruits. Both are of high nutritive value on 
account of the starch, sugar and mineral salts 
they contain. Therefore true economy is not in 
omitting them from our diet, but rather in choosing 
those varieties which are most plentiful and there- 
fore the cheapest. Then by using them in con- 
nection with dried and canned goods, we get a 
pleasing assortment all the year around. 

Nearly all the dlff^erent fruits can be used by 
the majority of people. Oranges, grapes, peaches, 
strawberries, raspberries, and cooked apples are 
usually pronounced the most easily digested. 
Melons, pears, apricots, raw apples, bananas and 
currants come next. Oranges, lemons, bananas, 
baked apples and stewed prunes are all recom- 
mended for invalids. 

Nuts have a high nutritive value, and are easily 
digested when made part of a meal. Almonds are 

91 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

particularly nourishing, and peanuts even richer. 
Nuts can be used in place of meat, and are espe- 
cially good in various kinds of fruit salads, fancy 
breads and cakes. Peanut butter is a very good 
substitute for meat. 

USING ODDS AND ENDS. 

To plan meals economically, you must use up 
all the left-overs, and throw away nothing that 
can be eaten. You can do this, but it takes time 
and study. 

All the bones, scraps of meat and vegetables 
combine to make soups that need not cost any- 
thing in direct outlay. If the vegetables are 
fresh, they should be boiled with the meat, but 
if cooked, they can be added after the soup has 
been strained and skimmed. Rice, barley, maca- 
roni and noodles will take the place of vegetables 
at little cost. 

A few fresh vegetables, such as a tomato, a 
cucumber and a little lettuce or watercress, or a 
small quantity of the cooked varieties like beets, 
string beans, peas and cauliflower, make an invit- 
ing combination salad. In fact, almost anything 
in the way of fruit, vegetables and poultry, as well 
as certain kinds of fish, may be worked into an 
appetizing dish by the addition of salad dressing. 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Tlie small amount of meat left from a meal 
need not be made up into the ordinary hash, but 
will be more attractive if sliced and reheated in 
the gravy. Or it may be chopped and moulded 
into croquettes, or filled into sweet green peppers 
and served on toast with cream sauce. Some 
trouble.'' Yes, but the results justify it, and the 
resulting quantity will go nearly twice as far as 
the original. 

Broken bits of fish should be picked over, freed 
from bones and skin, mixed with mashed potato, 
and made into fish balls for breakfast or lunch. 

Cold cereals, such as cream of wheat, corn meal 
and rice, are most appetizing sliced, fried brown, 
and served either plain (as a substitute for pota- 
toes,) or with jelly or syrup. 

Leftover milk that is likely to sour before the 
next meal should be heated for cream soup, milk 
toast, custards, etc. 

A little fresh fruit in danger of spoiling can be 
stewed, while a little preserved fruit or jelly will 
go nicely with any kind of a rice or custard pud- 
ding. 

INEXPENSIVE FOODS. 

INIilk is one of the most complete foods we have 
as it contains all of the five necessary elements. 

93 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

One quart of milk has the same food value as one 
quart of oysters which would pro})al)lj cost six 
times as much. It can be used to advantage, too, 
as the foundation of many dishes, as for example, 
cream soups, milk puddings, etc. 

One pound of cheese, costing eighteen cents, 
contains about twice as much nourishment as a 
pound of meat costing as much or more. 

Eggs are valuable for all kinds of use, and are 
reasonable in price most of the year. When they 
are very high, cut down the supply as much as 
possible or use some substitute. A small quan- 
tity, however, can often be combined with other 
foods so as to make an economical dish at all 
times. 

Potatoes are usually cheap, but as they lack 
proteins and fat we have learned to use them with 
meat, butter, milk and eggs. As they are not 
pronounced in flavour we do not grow tired of 
tlicm even when served every day. But we do 
appreciate a variety in their cooking. 

If you are tempted to buy some particularly 
inviting food that seems expensive, see if you can 
not even up the cost of the meal by planning to 
serve what you want with other things cheaper 
than you would buy otherwise. If you want a 
chicken and yet feel that you must economize, get 

94 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

inexpensive vegetables and a simple dessert ; or 
if you want ice cream and cake, study to find the 
most moderate priced meat that you can prepare 
attractively. 

As a matter of fact, you can save or waste a 
large amount of the food both fresh and cooked, 
that comes into the kitchen, and you will be a 
skilful housekeeper to the extent that you learn 
how to use up every thing that is eatable. 



95 



CHAPTER y 

The Chemistry of Cleaning 

Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and 
thence proceed to greater. 

Epictetus. 

There are many different points you ought to 
know about cleaning, for soap and water will 
not always do the work. 

You will find from experience that it Is far 
better and easier to keep your clothes clean than 
it is to get them clean. INIany garments cannot 
be washed, and different kinds of spots have to be 
removed in different ways. 

Grease spots should first be well brushed to re- 
move all dust, then laid over a folded cloth, and 
rubbed on the right side with a small cloth wet 
with benzine, gasoline, naptha, or chloroform. 
The dirt will go through on to the under cloth, 
and the grease will disappear. All these clean- 
ing fluids, hov/ever, are very inflammable, and they 
must never be used in a room where there is a 

96 



I 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

light or a fire, and tliey had l^ottcr be taken out- 
doors. 

REMOVING STAINS. 

Fresh ink stains can usually be taken out by 
soaking in sweet milk ; or, if on white goods, by 
covering with salt and lemon juice, leaving in the 
sun until dry, and then washing. On heavy car- 
pets or rugs, first take up all the ink you possibly 
can with a blotter or a cloth, then cover the spot 
with salt, rub in and leave until it becomes dis- 
coloured. Brush out and repeat the process as 
long as any stain remains. If the carpet begins 
to get dry before the ink has disappeared, moisten 
the spot with sweet milk, covered with a thick 
layer of salt and leave for several hours. Then 
brush out and remove any signs of grease from 
the milk with something like benzine. But re- 
member ! Not where there is any light or fire ! 

Iron rust, if not very bad, can also be taken 
out with repeated applications of salt and lemon 
juice, the garment meanwhile being left in the 
sun. 

For a grass stain on coloured goods, try rub- 
bing with a little alcohol ; on white goods, how- 
ever, wash and boil in the usual way, and it will 
probably disappear. 

97 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Tea, coffee and fruit stains, if fresh, can be 
removed by stretching them over a bowl, and pour- 
ing boiHng water on them until they disappear. 
Old stains are difficult, if not impossible to take 
out without injury to the material or the colour. 

Fresh paint can usually be gotten oflF without 
much trouble by rubbing with a cloth dipped in 
turpentine, followed by another clean and dry. If 
necessary, repeat the turpentine. 

Sticky spots, which usually hold more or less 
dust, are most easily taken off with a cloth dipped 
in warm water to which has been added a little 
ammonia. 

In using these various cleaning agents, re- 
member that acid will take the colour out of 
coloured goods. The explosive fluids, though 
dangerous to handle, will not affect the colours. 

CLEANING METALS. 

You know, of course, how very dark silver and 
other metals will get. This is because of the 
action of the air, the presence of certain gases in 
the house, and certain chemicals in our food, — 
as for example when the sulphur in eggs blackens 
teaspoons. This tarnish wmII not come off with 
soap and water, but is easily removed with cer- 
tain other things. Rub the silver with a paste 

98 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

made of whiting and a little ammonia, leave until 
dry and then polish with a soft cloth or chamois. 
Wash well with soap and water, rinse, and wipe 
dry with a clean, fresh wiper. The different silver 
powders and liquids sold by dealers are good, but 
more expensive. 

Copper and brass can be made to shine by the 
old-fashioned method of rubbing with a cloth 
dipped in vinegar and salt. When all tarnish has 
been removed, rinse in hot water and polish with 
a soft cloth. Various metal polishes are for sale 
in the market, but are not any better than what 
I have suggested. They also generally require 
friction or what you would call hard rubbing. 

Steel knives can be brightened with the scour- 
ing sand used in the kitchen, (like Scourine,) and 
should be cleaned for every meal. 

CLEANING WOODWORK. 

In your housekeeping you will occasionally 
have to clean some woodwork. Sometimes the 
" trim " around the room, the doors and window- 
frames are painted, sometimes stained and var- 
nished, sometimes waxed. These finishes, except 
the wax, may be cleaned with water and a little 
ammonia by washing a very small space at a time, 
drying quickly and then polishing with a soft 

99 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

cloth. But never put water on a waxed wood as 
that would spoil its beauty. 

Highly polished surfaces should first be dusted, 
and then wiped with a cloth moistened with a very 
little kerosene. You must be careful to get every 
bit of it off, however, for it does not evaporate 







CARPENTRY. 

quickly, and any that was left would catch the 
dust. But the harder you rub, the brighter will 
be the polish. 

Unfinished wood, like that in kitchen tables, 
bread boards, etc., must be kept clean by scour- 
ing with soap and water, rinsing with clean, fresh 

100 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

water, and wiping dry. If you don't wipe dry, 
the water catches the dust. 

In the kitchen you will probably notice that a 
layer of greasy dust collects very quickly on every- 
thing. This is because in cooking part of the 
solid matter is carried off with the steam and 
settles everywhere, catching and holding the dust. 
This is hard to get off, and will probably require 
scrubbing with warm water, good soap, and a lit- 
tle borax or ammonia to cut the grease. Wash 
only a small surface at a time, so that the alkali 
in the soap will not injure the paint or varnish, 
rinse with clear water, and wipe perfectly dry. 



101 



CHAPTER VI 

Why and How to Fight Dust 
and FHes 

While bright-eyed Science watches round. 

Gray. 

Where does all the dust come from ! You 
frequently hear people say this. Well, the great- 
est amount comes from the wearing away of the 
things we use, — our houses and their furnishings, 
our fires, our clothing, and even our own bodies. 
Wood, stone, hair, wool, cotton, bones, — all are 
at last ground down to a powder so fine that it 
is carried away by the wind. 

Dust is found everywhere. We cannot escape 
It, — in town or country, on land or sea. The 
cleanest kind of a house, closed up and left alone 
miles away from any neighbours, would be found 
dusty when opened ; and the finest passenger boat 
sailing the ocean has to be dusted regularly. 

Dust is probably necessary to life, too, because 
we cannot live without light, and scientists tell 

102 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

us that the rays of Hght are carried by means of 
the dust. Balloonists say that tlie higher they 
get the darker appears the sky, and the reason is 
that the higher they get the freer the air is from 
the dust needed to scatter the light. 

Do you wonder, then, why we are so anxious to 
get rid of it, — why we spend so much time sweep- 
ing and cleaning? Because the dust carries with 
it the tiniest imaginable living things, which are 
sometimes very harmful. These living particles 
are called germs or bacteria, and are so very minute 
that they can be seen only with a microscope. 

DUST GARDENS. 

When people take up this study, called bac- 
te-ri-ol'-d^-gy, and want to find out how these 
things live, they prepare a strange kind of a gar- 
den. They take the right kind of a glass box or 
dish, make it perfectly clean (by boiling in water 
for a long time,) and put in some carefully pre- 
pared beef broth jelly for the soil. They are 
then ready for the planting, and they get their 
seed just by leaving the jelly for a little while, — 
from 10 to 30 minutes, — exposed to the dust in 
the air ! What settles in that time is enough. 

Then they cover the box or dish very carefully 
with glass, put it in a warm place (for heat is 

103 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

needed to make things grow.) and leave it from 
one to two days. 

When tliej examine it at the end of this time, 
they find that their garden has started to grow ! 
The jelly will be covered with little tiny specks, 
some smooth and round, some branched like moss, 
some like velvet, — in all sorts of colours, red, pink, 
orange, yellow, green and blue. 

If they let the garden grow for a week, and 
then gently uncover it, they will notice a bad 
smell, which proves that the growing of the dust 
garden has spoiled the jelly. 

Now, all living things, plants as well as animals, 
take food in some way, make it part of themselves, 
and throw off a waste. The germs or bacteria 
make the changes in our food by taking up the 
part they need themselves, changing it into their 
own bodies, and throwing off a waste. This waste 
sometimes is poisonous. People have thus been 
made ill by eating tainted oysters or spoiled ice 
cream where the seasoning or flavouring hid the 
fact that the food was not good. 

The lesson that you are to get from this is that 
if you leave any kind of eatables exposed to the 
dust, you are going to start a dust garden which 
may spoil your food before you use it. 



104 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



CARE OF MILK. 

I^Iilk is one of the most suitable grounds for 
bacteria, because as we have learned already, it 
contains all the elements of a perfect food. So 
you will see the necessity of keeping our milk 
clean and pure. We cannot always be sure, 
though, that the milk is clean when we get it, 
for the cows and the milkers may not have been 
clean, and the dust of the stable which the warm 
milk caught in passing into the bucket at once 
starts to grow. j\Iilk sours or spoils very quickly, 
because of the presence of the bacteria. In model 
dairies, where the milk has been kept as clean as 
it possibly could be, and also very cold, to check 
any growth, it has remained perfectly sweet and 
fresh for ten days. You must therefore make 
sure that your milkman is careful to keep things 
clean, and you must do your part by putting the 
milk in a cool place, in covered vessels. 

DESTROYING DUST GERMS. 

The ice-box needs regular washings with hot 
soapsuds because the dust, which gets in every- 
where, settles on the lining, the shelves and in the 
drain pipe. It will also lodge on any bits of food 
that have been spilled or left open, and start to 
grow, throwing off as it does so certain gases that 

105 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

spoil milk, meat and other foods. The water- 
pan beneath must be cleaned carefully to get rid 
of the slime that collects when neglected. The 
drain pipe is most easily cleaned by pushing a 
small cloth through on the end of a switch. The 
addition of a little washing soda to boiling water 
for rinsing, will make everything sweet and fresh. 

Since we find that dust, with all its trouble- 
breeding germs, flies everywhere and all the time, 
we have to be cleaning all the time. ]Much of the 
dust that lodges in carpets, rugs, curtains, etc., 
can be gotten out of the house by having these 
things well beaten outdoors. Upholstered furni- 
ture and mattresses can also be beaten outside, 
and bedclothes should be shaken and hung on the 
clothesline to air. 

After a room has been cleared of its movable 
furniture and swept, it should be left until the 
dust has settled. Then this dust should be wiped 
up with a cloth and shaken outside, — not scat- 
tered again indoors hy a feather duster! 

All of the clothes going to the wash that can 
be boiled, should be boiled, — underwear, bedding, 
towels, bed linen, table linen, — for bacteria are 
most certain to be destroyed this way. Soap, 
boiling water, fresh air and sunshine are the four 
things that combined will free us from germs. 

106 



housekp:eping for little girls 



USEFUL BACTERIA. 

Not all bacteria are harmful, however. You 
may be surprised to learn that one variety of dust 
plants, sometimes found growing wild in the 
country around apple trees, we commonly know 
as yeast. Yeast is necessary for making bread, 
and people have now learned how to grow and 
handle the tiny plants so that they can be packed 
in the convenient form we use as compressed 




GETTING KID OF DUST. 

yeast. Then, one kind of bacteria that turns 
milk and cream sour gives that fine flavour we 
like in butter; and people have studied the "but- 
ter bacilli " as they call it, until now they can 
cultivate that special variety and grow it to sell 
to the buttermakers for producing extra good 
butter! Cheese, which is made from milk, has its 
flavour and its digestibility changed by different 
kinds of germs and is not really good until they 

107 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

have had a chance to do their work. Apple juice 
(or cider,) is affected by the yeast plants and 
other bacteria in the air, so that in a short time 
it is turned to vinegar. One reason, therefore, 
why people should study about dust plants is to 
find out which kinds are useful and which inju- 
rious, and how each kind should be treated. 

Sunshine and fresh air we know are foes to 
disease germs, and consequently we want all of 
the house to be light and airy. 

FLIES. 

You must keep out the flics! They breed in 
dirty places, and are attracted by filth, so that 
when they finally get into the house they are 
likely to bring in all sorts of germs on their bodies. 
It is positively unpleasant even to think of their 
walking over our food. You should exclude 
them as nmch as you can by keeping screen doors 
and windows closed, and destroy what do get in 
by means of fly-paper. You can get a good 
many out of a room by making it dark, leaving 
one door or window partly open, and then driving 
them toward the light. 

Mosquitoes also ai'e both a nuisance and a 
menace to health. They breed in stale water, and 
so old cans, broken bottles or other things that 

108 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 



will hold a little water, prove good hatching 
places. Keep the house and yard free from all 
such traps. 



109 



CHAPTER VII 

Hints on Furnishings and Decora- 
tions 

An iinlesson'd girl, unschoord, unpracticed; 
Happy in this, she is not yet so old. 
But she may learn. 

Shakespeare. 

Did 3'ou ever stop to think why some houses 
are so much more attractive than others which 
perhaps are more expensively furnished.^ Well, 
it is all a matter of good taste, and you will 
sec, if you look carefully, where the difference 
comes in. 

In the first place, the home is for the comfort 
and convenience of the family, and it should sug- 
gest cleanliness, orderliness and simplicity. Many 
houses are so filled with all sorts of furniture, pic- 
tures and so-called ornaments, that they give you 
a feeling of being crowded and uncomfortable. 

To be artistic, the house should contain only 
those things which — in the words of William 
Morris, — we know to be useful or believe to be 

110 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

beautiful. It is ideal when they are both useful 
and beautiful. 

Now there are several reasons why people fail 
to make their homes the way they really want 
them. They do not realize what is appropriate, 





jQL 






'najP 



BEAUTY AND USE. 



they do not know how to get the right colour 
effects, and possibly they lack the money. 

As to what is appropriate, we can best decide 
by considering the purpose to which a thing is to 
be put, and we can generally settle this by asking 
ourselves each time, if it is useful, if it is suit- 
able, if it is well made, if it is of good colour and 

111 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

design. An effect of simplicity is most desirable, 
and in trying to make a room artistic, we should 
banish all unnecessary furniture, useless orna- 
ments, and motley pictures. It is surprising how 
much larger and more pleasing a room will look 
after such a change. 

When it comes to choosing good colour effects, 
we should remember that the walls should not be 
too bright in colour or pronounced in pattern. 
Large figures on wall paper grow very tiresome, 
and spoil the best of pictures, while plain or 
nearly plain effects make pictures look better, and 
are really restful to the eye. Soft shades of gray- 
blues and greens, tans and browns blend well with 
the mixed colours of our furniture, rugs and 
draperies. When you have a chance to help 
choose in decorating a room, remember that a good 
plan is to have the walls of some delicate tone and 
let the bright bits of colour show in the lamp- 
shades, books and pictures. 

RUGS AND MATS. 

Bare floors and rugs arc far preferable to car- 
pets. Any kind of an ordinary floor is easily 
prepared by going over it flrst with a floor stain 
and then with a good varnish or shellac. Any 

lis 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

girl could easily do her own room, after getting 
someone to move the big pieces of furniture. 
Then any kind of a rug that is simple in design 
and quiet in colouring would look well. The old- 
fashioned rag rugs and hand-made mats such as 
our grandmothers used to make, are popular again 
and in good taste. You can make one yourself 
by cutting pieces of cloth in strips, about an inch 
wide, braiding into a strand, and sewing this 
strand round and round on a strong foundation. 
One rule to bear in mind is to use very little or no 
white if the other colours are dark, because too 
much white gives an appearance of scraps and 
therefore untidiness. Two small mats, one in 
front of the bed and one before the dresser would 
be enough for a small room. 

I have known of girls that wanted their rooms 
a certain colour, doing the painting of the wood- 
work themselves ; and they did not find it hard, 
cither, though they had to be careful about get- 
ting the paint on other things and on themselves. 
White or French gray looks very nice for a girl's 
bedroom, particularly if the furniture is of a kind 
that the family will consent to having painted the 
same way. Then the bit of colour needed can be 
introduced in flowered muslin curtains, and tilings 

113 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

for tlic dressLT, including scarf, pin-cushion, 
handkerchief and glove boxes, etc. 

A WORD ABOUT EXPENSE. 

As to the money required, it costs nothing to 
take out the things that a little study will tell you 
are either unnecessary or undesirable. You can 




DISHWASHING. 



get a few desirable pictures from old magazines, 
of which every family accumulates so many back 
numbers. A good plan is to choose either copies 
of famous old pictures, or good ones by the artists 
of to-day, — and frame them yourself by cover- 

114 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

ing with glass, backing with cardboard, and 
binding around the edge with passe-partout 
paper. 

Then if mother will allow you, perhaps as a 
birthday or a Christmas present, to fix up your 
room, decide what improvements you would like 
to make. A north room is nice done in pale yel- 
low, as that makes it look warm and sunny where 
a blue or green would make it look cold and dark. 
When you have chosen your colour, try to have 
everything harmonize, and keep to one tone as 
nmch as possible or you will lose your colour 
effect. 

You can fix up many pieces of furniture from 
boxes. I once saw a beautiful room, in green and 
white, that was furnished entirely with box furni- 
ture, — furniture made from packing cases and 
crates. The dainty bed was a cot spring, 
fastened at each corner to a four-inch, white 
enamelled post. The window seat made a box for 
shirtwaists, and the space under the washstand 
a place to keep shoes. The lady who did this 
work found it so easy that she wrote a book telling 
how everything was made, so that others could 
profit by her experience. 

So you see it is not necessary to spend a great 
deal to make a room tasteful and attractive. 

115 



HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 

Indeed, people often spend too much in trynig to 
get artistic effects when they do not know how, 
with the result that they get a tiresome mixture 
of ill-assorted articles and conflicting colours. 
Remember always to consider usefulness first and 
then shnplicity, and you will probably be pretty 
nearly right. 



THE END 



116 



OCT 22 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 355 016 3 



